The present disclosure relates to a device and a method for preserving components with a preservative agent. The exemplary illustrations may be used, for example, in the preservation of hard-to-reach surfaces to be preserved, which may be the case e.g. in cavity preservation, seam sealing (e.g. flange seams), etc. of motor vehicle body components.
Cavity preservation, i.e. the preservation of an inner surface of a cavity, is generally used with high quality vehicles to significantly extend the corrosion protection. The use of cavity preservation is typical, particularly, in countries in which high commitments are made with regard to the so-called “rust-through warranty” (corrosion protection warranty), as is the case in many European countries. Some vehicles which are imported into such countries, if they have not already undergone cavity preservation, undergo cavity preservation retroactively.
Cavity preservation generally must not be omitted in some cases, e.g., in the case of high quality vehicles with high corrosion protection warranties.
There are essentially two methods known for the cavity preservation of motor vehicle bodies, namely the flood-coating method and the spray method.
In the flood-coating method, the cavities of the motor vehicle body to be preserved are flooded with solvent-free wax which has been made liquid by heating, wherein a portion of the wax deposits on the cavity walls and thereby preserves them while the excess wax runs off.
In the spray method for cavity preservation, however, the wax used as the preservative agent is sprayed onto the inner walls of the cavities, for which purpose can be used an application tube (lance), for example, which is inserted from the outside into the cavity and which has outlet openings for the wax.
A wax is usually used as the material for cavity preservation. Typical in the prior art is a processing method wherein the wax is pre-atomized together with air in an pre-atomizing chamber and is fed to the body by means of air through tubes (e.g. having a length of approximately 3-8 meters). The air serves for the atomization, the transport and the distribution within the cavity. The wax is conveyed into the cavity and should usually seal it. To do so it needs to spread. This is generally supported by a tipping station, which “tips” the body part such as to support the spreading (penetration) of the wax. Openings (outlet holes) in the body part to be preserved indicate that the cavity has been successfully coated.
A disadvantage of this method is that escaping wax is undesirable and can contaminate, in particular, subsequent conveyor regions.
This disadvantage is minimized by providing a wax dryer. One known wax dryer heats the body parts to a predetermined minimum temperature over a predetermined minimum period e.g. 1 min. at 60° C. A normal wax dryer length is, merely as an example, 60 minutes. After the drying process, the escaping of wax is essentially stopped. One also speaks in this context of the so-called “drop-stop”. The wax may typically harden over a few weeks/days thereafter, but generally does not become completely solid, rather remaining flexible. A series of disadvantages is associated with this type of wax dryer, e.g. high energy consumption during the operation, high investment and/or maintenance costs, high costs of cleaning, large space requirement, cannot be retrofitted in the case of many customers, etc.
The documents DE 35 18 584 A1, GB 2 251 396 A, EP 2 067 530 A1, DE 36 16 235 C2, EP 1 795 282 A1, DE 31 42 154 C2, EP 2 098 302 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,894 A provide further technological background.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved device and an improved method for the preservation of components. It should be possible in particular after the application of the preservative agent and optional subsequent penetration to achieve a “drop-stop” in a generally short time and/or without a dryer resp. furnace. In the case of cavity preservation, for example, there is a need to prevent or minimize preservative agent from escaping from the cavity to be preserved in a simple manner.